A HAPPIER time for Bury-based Birthdays has been pledged by two Scottish entrepreneurs who have snapped up the troubled greetings card company in a deal believed to be worth over £60m.

Tom Hunter, who recently stalked House of Fraser has teamed up with Gadgetshop chief Chris Gorman, through his West Coast Capital investment firm, to acquire the chain from venture capitalists 3i, PPMV and Permira.

The deal provides an exit for the existing shareholders and ensures the business has access to development capital and retail expertise via the new shareholders.

Founded in 1966 by entrepreneur Ron Wood, the greetings card and party products chain, has 500 stores and employs 3,500 staff in the UK and Ireland. It made a pre-tax profit of £7.5m on sales of £144m in the year to June 2003.

In recent years Birthdays has lost ground to market leader Clinton, but Mr Hunter and Mr Gorman believe it has good potential to grab a larger share of the UK's multi-million-pound greetings card market, and aim to make it as profitable as its big rival.

On average Britons are said to buy more cards than anyone else in the world - averaging 52 a year - and the UK greetings card industry is constantly introducing new products, and more occasions to celebrate as it tries to persuade consumers to send even more cards.

Interest in the business has stemmed from the development earlier this year, of a "cross-selling" partnership deal brokered between Birthdays, and Gadgetshop, where Mr Gorman is executive chairman and the major shareholder, and Mr Hunter is and investor.

This partnership will continue, however, two businesses will remain independent of one another as both build up for the important Christmas trading season.

Commenting on the deal, Mr Gorman said: "This is a business with significant potential, but as always, a number of challenges. We look forward to building on the Birthdays and Partylands brands, supporting staff and offering exceptional products and service to our customer base."

For West Coast, Mr Hunter, who made his fortune when he sold Sports Division to Wigan-based JJB Sports, said: "Birthdays fits well with our portfolio and represents a good long-term investment for West Coast."

Iain MacRitchie, Birthday's chairman welcomed the deal. "This is excellent news for Birthdays with the new investors fully committed to further growing the Birthdays market position.

"The combination of skills and experiences is a powerful mix and will give the company a wonderful opportunity," he said.

The transaction was funded via equity from Mr Gorman, West Coast and debt from Bank of Scotland. Financial advice was provided by Rothschilds.